By Hal Perloff
Energy is a national security issue. The U.S. defense industry represents one of the world’s largest markets for energy, and the cost and availability of energy directly affects military capabilities and readiness. Department of Defense leaders are revamping how DOD uses energy and determining which fuels offer the best overall investment, prices, and logistical advantages with the fewest environmental problems. Moreover, the military provides an attractive test-bed for commercialization of emerging technologies on a ‘demand-pull’ basis as well as an important market for fossil fuels, renewable energy and biofuels, energy services, energy efficiency, and demand response. A secure and sustainable energy system must be viewed from a national defense standpoint. What are the risks and rewards for moving the military toward an environmentally as well as economically sustainable energy system?
This year’s J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Conference is entitled “Laying the Foundation for Sustainable Energy Future: Legal and Policy Challenges” and will present a panel on Sustainable Energy and the National Defense. The panel will be chaired by former Chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, retired Lieutenant General Robert Flowers, and includes as panelists:
- Honorable Katherine Hammack, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy & Environment)
- General Paul Kern, Chairman, CAN Military Advisory Board, U.S. Army (Ret.)
- Christopher Yukins, Co-Director of George Washington University Law School’s Government Procurement Law Program
- Matthew Carr, Managing Director, Industrial & Environmental Section, Biotechnology Industry Organization
- Hal Perloff, Partner, Husch Blackwell, LLP
This timely and insightful conference is co-sponsored by the George Washington University Law School, Husch Blackwell LLP, the Environmental Law Institute, and the Constellation Energy Foundation and will be held on April 10 & 11, 2013 at the Jacob Burns Moot Court Room on GW’s campus.